Society's Broken So Grab Some Glue
by TwinCarcino
Summary: After being wrongly arrested, Lapis Lazuli, renowned troublemaker, and problem child was expelled and forced to move all the way across the country to live with her elder half-sister in Beach City. There, she makes some new friends at her new school and finds herself entangled in a web of mystery, deaths and a strange world full of shadows and the darkness of human heart
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note** : This is a SU!Persona AU, it follows inspiration from both Persona 4 and Persona 5, and let me tell you that this is _not_ going to be all that happy. There's going to be death and other potentially upsetting themes in this story. As always, I'm open and welcoming friendly criticism.

* * *

Earbuds were plugged in her ears firmly so as to not fall out too easily, blasting away at full volume a symphony of guitar solos and chaos on a drum set. Beside her on the empty plane seat was a dark blue backpack. It was easy for her to block out the mindless chatter of the world around her as Lapis Lazuli rested her head against the glass window of the plane she was on. She was, to put it plainly, bored out of her mind. Several thousand feet above the ground and currently on a six-hour flight from the west coast, all the way to the east coast and she couldn't have been in a worse mood about it.

Now, to get one thing straight, Lapis didn't hate flying. It wasn't that she was on a plane that was the problem that put her in such a foul mood. In fact, the teenager loved flying and aviation in general. She always dreamed of riding a plane, of piloting one, and had her own fascination with birds because of their freedom to take flight and go where they wanted. But here and now? Well, Lapis wasn't all that excited for this plane ride and what awaited her once it was done and over. She dreaded it as much as a college student dreaded their finals.

Her personal belongings, what little of them there were, had been packed up and shipped off weeks ago. They should have arrived at her new home already, and if not, they would be in the coming days. All Lapis had taken with her on the plane were a couple of suitcases of clothes and personal essentials, along with miscellaneous things she felt like taking with her on the plane.

She was, without a doubt, still pretty pissed off about the sudden move and what caused it to happen. Three months into the school year in her hometown and now she would be transferring, not just to a new school, but all the way across the country into a whole new town with new faces and new rules. How much more BS could it get?

All because of _One. Fucking. Thing._

Lapis scowled as she glared out at the clouds they flew by, feeling a wave of hot anger flush through her body as she thought back to the incident which caused her sudden expulsion and move. Her parents didn't even _try_ to defend her when she was arrested and taken to court, they couldn't be bothered to stand up for their daughter when Lapis had been in the right when Lapis was falsely accused and punished for a crime she never committed. They were more than happy to just throw Lapis off onto someone else and wash their hands of her rather than be decent parents, decent people and try to help fix this or even do anything helpful. It just gave her more reason to despise them.

It was no surprise at all that Lapis and her parents didn't get along at all. Her parents weren't the most open minded of folks around town, and they really didn't take it all that well upon learning that they had an openly gay daughter. Certainly didn't help that Lapis had quite the bad attitude, which she of course blamed on her home life and the passive aggressive tendencies in her family. The bitterness they caused always bled into her social interactions with others and she often lashed out at classmates. As a result, well, she wasn't all that well-liked at her old school, back in Empire City High, she had gained the nickname "Blue Devil". The rebel in the stupid, "perfect" prestigious school who caused nothing but trouble wherever she went. Yeah, sure, some of the rumors were just blasphemy spread to soil her reputation by people who didn't like her, like the one about how she was in a biker gang and dealt drugs at night, but, some of the remarks about her were somewhat true. Lapis could admit that she was far from a perfect angel.

One time she took apart an old car, one of the real old ones, the metal ones rather than the piece of shit plastic ones made nowadays. It was one of the other students, a real jerk of a person and a major bully around the school. She and a couple of other kids tore that car apart and then reassembled it on the roof of the school. The only thing they had left out was the engine since they couldn't lug something so heavy up the many flights of stairs. Her friend Bismuth did most of the work, the woman could take apart and reassemble nearly anything she got her hands on. Somehow, just somehow they didn't get caught and, to this day, no one knew who did it.

Lapis grinned a little and held back a small laugh as she remembered the face of the dickwad when he saw his precious muscle car chilling on the school roof. The staff had been completely amazed and confused, and it took hours to get it off from the roof. Then there were all the times that she destroyed the plumbing and just flooded the bathrooms of the school.

But, what had gotten her expelled and kicked across the country wasn't anything like that. It wasn't even her doing something wrong. She _saved_ someone!

Her scowl returned.

She had gotten detention, so Lapis had to stay after school a few hours. Nothing new at all there. Even after getting done with detention, Lapis waited as long as she could before she went home, going to the river to skip rocks and drinking beer. The sun had gone down when she finally decided to go home to the mess was her house.

She kicked empty beer cans on her way home, cutting through downtown, past bars and casinos of the city as she walked. She may have been a _little_ tipsy on her walk, not quite drunk, but not quite sober either. She wouldn't say that it hindered any of her rational thoughts or actions, she could easily pass a sobriety test if an officer decided to stop her. But, as she walked in the dead of night, where no cars were out and most were asleep, she could catch the sound of sobs and pleas to stop.

Now, let's just say their states mayor, Marty, wasn't quite as upstanding of a politician as he may have appeared to be to the press and media. Honestly, Lapis didn't even recognize the sleazebag as the mayor when she turned the corner and saw him holding, grabbing and yelling at a girl who looked like some local college girl. He was screaming at her to get in his car, trying to force her to do as he said. His intentions were clear.

Well, the girl had been fine in the end. Lapis had run over, grabbed Marty and yanked him off the poor gal. Sure, she was probably pretty traumatized on a psychological and emotional level, but physically she didn't have a scratch on her. The same couldn't be said for Mary.

Lapis had whirled around once she got him to let go of the girl and just decked him in his ugly face. She could feel bone crunching under her fist as his nose broke and watched as he hit the ground with blood seeping down his lips and chin.

Someone must have heard the commotion before Lapis arrived because police sirens were in the air before Marty could get up.

It wasn't any secret that Lapis had a poor reputation, she'd had multiple confrontations with police and authority figures in the past. Never got arrested but had to be picked up by officers and given warnings more times than she could count. She had a reputation for being prone to violence, for mindless violence. Even though what she did was to protect and save someone, the girl wouldn't even stand up and defend Lapis, wouldn't tell anyone what really happened that night when Marty used his position as mayor to get Lapis arrested. He claimed that he had simply been having a friendly chat with the girl when Lapis had run over and attacked him out of the blue. Said she was on some kind of drug that probably caused the erratic violent outburst, Lapis wasn't sure how but he even managed to forge the lab work to back his statement.

Lapis wasn't angry at the girl she saved; no doubt Marty blackmailed and threatened the girl somehow if she didn't testify against Lapis when the blue haired teen was dragged into court. Not like he needed too, with or without having her testify, he would have manipulated the court system into ruling Lapis guilty regardless. She wasn't angry at her, could understand why she would be too scared to tell the truth. She was just… disappointed.

So, Lapis got expelled, there was no way Empire City High was going to let someone who attacked the city's mayor in their school. Too much of a bad influence, a danger to safety because she might attack someone in school. Bullshit and more bullshit with even more bullshit sprinkled on top. They just didn't want to risk any damage to their reputation.

Even worse? She was outright arrested. Had to spend a couple weeks in a juvenile detention hall while they figured out what to do with her.

Now she was on probation. Her lawyer and the courts had made some kind of deal that Lapis honestly didn't give two shits about. But, the point of it all was that she was on probation and if she wasn't careful she'd be in juvie for a lot longer than two weeks. She even had a criminal record to boot now. To add to that, as she'd already mentioned, she was on her way across the country to a small, unassuming town by the ocean named Beach City where she would be living with her older sister while she attended the local high school.

Lapis wasn't exactly looking forward to it. She never really saw or talked to her sister all that much, after all, Pearl and she were only related by a shared father and nothing more. They didn't even grow up with each other, raised in separate states their whole lives with the only interactions the few and far between visits made so Pearl could see her father. Lapis could hardly call Pearl her sister, she was barely more than an acquaintance. Yet, for some reason unfathomable, Pearl had agreed to take in the little sister she had only seen a handful of times, who had a criminal record for violence and drugs. Even though she was likely filled with stories and lies about how much trouble she was bringing on herself by doing this, and how Lapis would undoubtedly just ruin her life, she was still willing to act as Lapis' legal guardian during all of this.

Well, Lapis had to give her props for that. And, in its own way, it did beat living with her asshole of a mom and dad.

Still, Lapis couldn't help the hot waves of anger and rage that boiled deep within her for this whole fiasco, for the injustice forced upon her. She did something _good_ , something _selfless_ for once in her life and what was her reward? Expelled. Arrested. Probation. Moving. It left her pissed, bitter and gnashing her teeth together thinking over how she got screwed over for doing something right.

Stupid adults.

Stupid world.

Society was broken. It was broken, manipulated, abused. Those in powers took advantage of what they had to hurt and step on those lower than them. No one did anything about it, no one would ever do anything about it. They turn a blind eye to what happens in favor of saving their own skins. Society was broken and she hated it. Hated it all.

Lapis let out a soft growl as she shook her head, trying to calm herself as her nails dug into the polyester of the seat armrest. She still had about three hours of her flight left and it wasn't going to do her any good to just be sitting there, simmering with rage and anger when she had no way to release the pent-up feelings while on the plane. So, might as well use the hours left to take a nap, it'd kill some time and maybe calm her down. Besides, she could use the sleep if the bags under her eyes were anything to go by.

Closing her eyes, she continued to block out the world around her as music crept into her ears from her earbuds. It wasn't easy, but slowly her senses started to dull as sleep crept onto her.

* * *

When she opened her eyes up again, everything was blue.

Now, while Lapis may be a fan of the color, as shown by her vibrant blue hair and her usual blue attire, there was a limit to how much blue should be used until it became overkill. She would say that the room she was currently in was very well past overkill. The walls were blue. The rug was blue. The stone floor somehow was blue. Even the lights somehow had a blue tint to them. The only thing in the room not painted blue was the prison bed, the iron bars and—

Wait.

Why was she in a _prison cell_?!

Lapis threw herself off the bed and onto her feet, almost tripping on the chain around her left ankle that bound her to the cell, but managed to keep herself upright. Taking a look around her cell, she began to approach the iron bars and grasped onto them as she peered into the rest of the room.

It was circular. At least, it looked that way from where she was. There were multiple cells all around, curving around a spacious center room in a circular formation. As it had been already, the 'main' room was colored in all blue as well, not including the large brown oak desk in the middle of the room. Lapis couldn't find any sign of a door to get in or out of the room.

"What is this?" Lapis whispered to herself as she tightened her grip on the bars. She had to blink just to see if she'd wake up, and then again as her eyes widened in surprise. One moment the chair at the desk had been empty, Lapis the only sign of life in this place. The next? A woman was seated at it, staring right at Lapis. "What the, where did—ow!"

Out of nowhere, a riding crop came down hard on the metal bars right above where her fingers were at. Lapis recoiled quickly and stumbled back, cradling her appendages close to her chest as though to protect them as another tall woman came to stand in front of the prison bars, arms held behind her back and a scowl placed firmly over her face.

She was taller than anyone Lapis had ever seen, holding a military like look to her. Her hair was short and cold, her trench coat was gold, her military boots were gold. She was an eyesore of yellow and gold in a room of all blue and stuck out like a sore thumb. Even more, she looked ready and eager to kick Lapis' ass at her first chance. Lapis found herself rather intimidated by her, not something she'd often admit when meeting others.

"Quiet!" the woman snapped as she hit the bars again with her riding crop. Sparks of electricity danced along the steel at the touch and Lapis was grateful that she wasn't touching the bars anymore. The woman's voice echoed in the room, loud, powerful, intimidating. "You're not to speak until spoken too, inmate!"

Lapis did not like this woman and found herself just a little afraid.

"Please, do restrain yourself, it'll do no good if you scare our guest away," the woman at the desk called out, voice gentle and soothing with an undertone of grief that seemed to be permanently etched into her very being. It was a stark contrast to the first woman. She was just as tall as the yellow woman, wearing a long, dark blue dress and a cloak draped over her shoulders. Her face, long and sorrowful was framed by long white hair. Despite the mournful appearance, her eyes were strong, firm, and they locked onto Lapis, the smile on her face not evident in her eyes.

"Welcome, my dear prisoner, to the Velvet Room."


	2. Chapter 2

Lapis gritted her teeth as she glared at the two women. Prisoner? Guest? What the Hell was going on here? She remembered being on a plane, how did she wind up in a prison cell? Did someone drug her or something? Was this a kidnapping?

"Relax, don't fret, dear," the woman at the desk said, her voice gentle, almost soothing. Lapis didn't like it, "The 'you' of reality is still fast asleep in the real world, you are simply experiencing this as a dream," she said, not that it made much sense, "this is a place that exists between mind and matter, dream and reality. We are the masters of this room and you are our guest."

"Really? Because I sure don't feel like a guest," Lapis spat back as she took a hold of the bars once more, at least this time the yellow woman didn't swat at her again. "What are you even talking about? I'm asleep but I'm here? So I'm, what? Dreaming?"

The woman smiled patiently, "Something like that," she said, "Oh! Where are my manners? I am Blue Diamond, and this woman here," she gestured to the woman in yellow who still scowled and glared at Lapis, "is Yellow Diamond, my closest friend."

The woman in yellow, or Yellow Diamond as she had been named, scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her heeled boot against the cold hard ground impatiently. "We're people you want to be showing respect, remember that well, inmate."

Yeah, Lapis was going to show them respect, all the respect. Not. That was something that had to be earned, not just given away freely in her books. So far, these women had done nothing to earn that respect. "Whatever you say, ma'am," she responded as dryly as she could, drawing her hands back from the metal bars quickly as Yellow brought her electric riding crop down on them once more. Jolts of electricity shot up on the metal bars moments later, electric current running through the steel.

"Yellow, please, control yourself," Blue attempted to pacify.

Lapis glared at them as they approached the bars once more, "Why am I here?" she demanded as she looked at the two towering women, "Why did you bring me here?"

Blue did not rise from her seat, she crossed her hands on the desk and kept that pleasant, untrustworthy smile, "This is a room where only those bound by a contract may enter, it is a contract you've already been entered into. I've simply summoned you to discuss the imminent future, and quite the future it is."

Marching and circling the room, Yellow ran her crop along the bars as she took in the prisons, "I will admit that it is a surprise that the room would take this shape," she mused and turned to fix Lapis with an icy stare. "The Velvet Room takes a shape that reflects the heart of our guest. To think that yours would take the form of a prison… interesting, interesting," Lapis could just _see_ her wanting to laugh, to taunt and mock her, it was plain to see on her face, "You truly are a prisoner."

So, her heart was a prison? What fun news. What could possibly get better than that? "You said you brought me here for my 'future', what the hell are you talking about?"

Blue smiled and stood from the desk. Her dress brushed along the floor as she came to stand right in front of the cell that Lapis stood in. Her hands folded in front of her as she looked down at the teen, "What awaits you in your future is nothing short of destruction and pain. Your life and the lives of many are on the line, teetering back and forth and will be easily lost," her earlier facade of pleasantries and smiles was gone. Her eyes cold.

Lapis felt a chill running up and down her spine at that expression, a sense of unease filling her to the marrow of her bones, "Are you… you're kidding me, right?" Was this woman trying to suggest that she was destined to die?

The expression on the woman eased up a moment later, "Don't worry, don't panic. Though your destiny is that of demise, have been given a chance, a means to avert that fate." She turned and approached her desk once more, passing by Yellow and pausing when she was at her side. Turning her head she looked back at Lapis, "You must fight against that which has become corrupted, rehabilitate, that is your chance to find safety."

Yellow took a step forward, it was dangerous, menacing even, "You have to find yourself a resolve to face yourself and see the truth reflected in the hearts of those around you. Do you have the strength to do so?"

"Well, I'd rather avoid dying, so..." Lapis said with a slightly sardonic smile.

"Then, if you'd be so kind," Blue said as she approached her desk once more and reclaimed her seat. Looking directly at Lapis, she gave a look that could have seen into her own soul, "allow us to observe your journey and perhaps even offer aid to your personal growth."

Well, she had a feeling that there wasn't an option to decline them on that request.

"You will come to understand this place eventually," Yellow stated as she began to circle the room once more, like a shark circling her prey, "It's time for you to go back to the real world. We will meet again, so behave."

Lapis could hear a bell. Loud and reverberating, like some kind of church bell. She could see the world around her fading into black. Turning to the women, Yellow and Blue stood side by side, watching until they too faded away.

Lapis awoke to a flight attendant nudging her on the shoulder. She jerked, jolting back and eyes wide as she came back to the waking world. Looking around, it took her a few moments to collect herself and remember where she was and what she was doing here. Looking back up at the attendant, she opened her mouth to try and work out a question but was beaten to the punch.

"The plane has landed at the Beach City airport," she answered.

Beach City. Right. Lapis' stop, she'd be living here for the year. Lapis grabbed her bag and stood up, "Right, um, thanks for waking me," she answered and edged her way out from the seats. There weren't that many people left on the plane, just grabbing their things and leaving just as Lapis was. She gave a polite smile to an older couple as she passed them on her exit of the plane.

Into the city, now she just had to collect her bags from the conveyer belt and find her sister.

She took her phone out of her pocket as she made her way to the luggage pickup area, flicking through her apps until she reached her texts. It bothered her some that none of her supposed friends from her previous school had texted her or tried to contact her since she had gotten arrested. But that was sadly how it went. Friendships were only skin deep after all and once she was gone she'd be forgotten. After what had happened, with her being arrested and all, they were probably especially eager to cut Lapis out of their lives.

Well, good riddance. Lapis didn't need people like that anyway. She'd delete them from her contacts later.

Spotting her bags on the belt, she grabbed them and began walking once more. Thumbing through more contacts, she nudged past the few people in her way as she found who she was looking for. Tapping the call button, she brought the phone to her ear.

"Yeah…? Pearl? It's Lapis, the plane landed. Where are you?" She waited as her sister spoke on the other end before she spoke again, "Yeah, got it. I can find that easy. See ya. Bye."

Sticking her phone back in her pocket, she grabbed her bags and started walking again.

* * *

It wasn't hard to find Pearl's car and the sister inside it, and the drive that followed was mostly in silence. Pearl tried to bring up a few topics to talk about, but Lapis wasn't the most responsive person as she crossed her arms and glared out the window, watching houses and trees blur by. Pearl fell silent after that, not that much of a talker.

Lapis furrowed her brows as she saw blue flash by. She couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened. She had dreamed of… something while on the plane. But, she couldn't remember it that well. It was so blurry, so vague.

She could remember prison bars. The vague shape of a woman. Or was it two? Had she dreamt of being in prison?

That had to be it. Just from the stress of everything that had happened she had a prison dream. Still, she couldn't shake a somewhat uneasy feeling just thinking of it, like something wasn't right. She didn't like it.

"Are you okay?"

Lapis jolted as a hand came to rest on her shoulder. Whirling around in her seat, she relaxed when she saw that it was just Pearl. Her pale blue hair covering her eyes as she was turned to face Lapis. It took the teen a moment to realize that the car was stopped, they must have made it to the apartments.

"You were just… sitting there quietly, you didn't say anything when I said we were here," Pearl explained, "So I wanted to make sure that everything was okay."

Lapis shrugged off her intrusive hand, shaking her head as she unbuckled, "I'm just peachy," she said, sarcasm dripping from her every word. Pushing the door open, she stepped out of the car and came around to the trunk.

Her sister followed, popping the trunk open and grabbing one of Lapis bags, "I know, it's a lot to take in after everything that's happened to you," she went on, probably trying to be comforting, knowing the situation Lapis was in. "If there is anything I can do to help you, please, don't be afraid to ask."

"Whatever," Lapis replied blandly. She'd make sure to probably never ask Pearl anything. She took her other bag and began to follow Pearl up to the stairs to the apartment.

Her sister lived on the third floor of the apartment building. A relatively new complex, nice walls and structures. The stairs smelled of mint and the carpet was so clearly clean and new. She dragged her bags up the steps following on Pearl's heels.

From what she had been told by Pearl on the phone some few days ago before she came up here, the neighbors weren't too much of a bother. There was a nice family that lived down the hall that owned a pizza place. Downstairs lived a couple of law students that Pearl was friends with. There was a group of sisters who lived in one of the bigger apartments, quintuplets from what she'd heard. The eldest was in the military and off on tour, the current head of the house was a med student. Their youngest, some girl named Navy came by every so often with freshly baked cookies to share with the neighbors.

Pearl assured her that she would get along well with them, that they were great people. Lapis assured her that she had no intention of interacting with them unless needed.

Her sister fumbled with her keys and pushed the door open. The inside of the apartment wasn't really anything special. Nor was her room when Pearl led her to it. Though at least it had some things to it. Pearl had gone ahead and gotten her a bed, sheets, of course. Here was also a work desk for her to do her homework on and a bookshelf to keep her things at. She had to admit. Her room wasn't the best, but, it could have been worse. At least there was space for things and it was clean.

She could have been stuck living in a dusty, cluttered attic for the rest of the year.

As Lapis put her bags down on her bed, Pearl lingered in the doorway. Her sister had her hands clasped together and held behind her back. It was clear she wasn't exactly comfortable as she fidgeted in her spot. Lapis turned to face her, quietly, silently demanding her to speak up and say what she wanted to say.

"So, um," Pearl looked up at her, "Just, do as you want? I'll call you down when dinner's ready, but, you're, you're free to do as you like," she murmured, "I'll take you to school tomorrow. Then, if you want rides after, you can ask or you can walk to school. It's up to you. So long as you, you know, stay out of trouble, I don't mind what you do. Just let me know if you plan to stay out late or go out at night."

"Yeah, yeah," Sounded reasonable enough. Besides, it's not like she had much of a choice, Pearl would have to report to her probation officer if Lapis acted up. So, she'd have to be on her best behavior. Still didn't mean she'd have to stick around the entire day after she unpacked. "In that case, I'm going to head out, get an idea of what I can do in this town."

"Okay, just, try not to stay out too late, okay?"

* * *

There was about as much to do in Beach City as she would have guessed. And by that she meant that there was jack shit to do in the town. There was a beach, that was something, but it wasn't like Lapis could survive solely off swimming and surfing for entertainment every day. There was also Funland, but, places like that could be pricey and Lapis didn't exactly have that much money at the moment.

She sighed as she took a seat at one of the benches by a park, leaning back and watching as people in the park playing. God damn, she already hated this town. There was literally nothing she could do. It was going to be one long and boring year.

Lapis patted at her pockets and scrunched up her nose. Right. She didn't have any cigarettes on her right now. Had to give up her pack before she came here to avoid any more trouble, and she honestly doubted she could sneak a few from her sister. Pearl probably didn't even drink, let alone smoke.

Great.

Sighing, Lapis tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. She was just going to wither away here in this desolate beach town, wasn't she? She wanted to go back home, sure her city wasn't the best. But at least she had things she could have done.

She just had to wait it out. Be on her best behavior until the police and all those people thought she could be let off her probation. She could go home and go back to the life she used to live before being dragged out to this dull town.

Lapis let out another sigh as she shook her head. Maybe she could go back down to the beach. There was bound to be something she could do over there. Right? Something to do that could make this less awful, to ease the suffering she was going to have to endure.

Her thoughts were brought to a half as a large shadow fell over her form. Lapis blinked and before she could do much else, a football was dropped into her lap. Lapis tilted her head up and saw a massive woman standing behind her. A mane of white hair in a ponytail, dark skin with streaks and patches of white over it, and one wide grin.

"Well, well, I can't believe it," the behemoth of a woman said with a chuckle, "But what do you know, Lapis Lazuli. What brings you over here?"

Lapis swore that she choked a little as recognition dawned on her and a wide smile formed as she jumped to her feet. " _Jasper!_ "


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note** : This chapter is rather long and this is the point where things truly start to begin. Consider the previous two chapters as just a sort of introductory chapters.

Lapis was on her feet in seconds, her smile wider and brighter than the sun as she saw the familiar, hulking woman before her. It had taken her a moment to even recognize Jasper, the woman got bigger since she last saw her… what, three, maybe four years ago? Her hair was bleached white now, her nose a little too. Probably from getting broken so many times. But, Lapis could never forget that ugly mug that she loved so much.

" _This_ is where you moved to?" she asked, arms held out to gesture to around them, to the city itself. She couldn't freaking believe it that her best friend since elementary school and her partner in crime had moved _here_. In this freakishly boring town of all places! Whatever Gods there were must have been smiling down on her right now to have sent her to the city the one person she could trust lived. Did she make a blood sacrifice and forget about it or something? Whatever it was that caused this stroke of luck, she loved it. Jasper was here. Her day had just gotten a bit better. "What are you doing here?"

The behemoth of a woman laughed, brushing some loose white strands of hair away from her face, "I could ask the same to you. What, is Empire City not good enough for the great Lapis Lazuli anymore?" she asked with a playful bite.

"I wish that were the case," Lapis shook her head, stuffing her hands into her pockets and kicking at the ground, she was still angry over it, but less so now that her mood had been improved, "I'm going to be stuck living here for at least a year now, some bullshit happened back home so I'm rooming with Pearl. Don't know how I'm going to survive, I mean, Jesus this town is so boring I might die before the year is up."

There was a glint that was born in Jasper's eyes as Lapis said that. A familiar gleam that Lapis had come to know so well during their years of breaking into pools at night and sneaking beers back in middle school. It was a troublemaker look, gleefully knowing what she was doing was bad and eager to do more, to share with others.

Lapis grinned and elbowed her gently, "Don't tell me, there's something here to do after all?"

"We've got loads of underground shit here," Jasper responded, "Wrestling matches, fight clubs. I'm the reigning champion for Beach City's underground fight club, been so for almost two years now," she said rather proudly, puffing out her chest as she spoke, "I'm called the 'White Tiger'. I guess they started calling me that because of my hair and vitiligo, it kind of stuck so I've kept using it."

Lapis snorted, "So you get to beat people to a pulp and the crowds cheer you on. Sounds like it's just up your alley."

"You've no idea, Lapis. I need to go take you to my next match!" Jasper was so excited, so eager as she said that, well, how could Lapis possibly decline? Besides, she always did like seeing Jasper fight, she'd be eager to see what new moves her friend got now. The bluenette smiled and just gave a nod to her statement, which only fueled the fighter on. "I'll get you front row seats. I'll even sneak you in so Mr. Smiley doesn't cheat you out of ten bucks for an entrance fee. Next match won't be for a while, though, right now wrestling has the stage for a couple of months"

"I look forward to it," Lapis said, nodding her head as she spoke. Leaning against the back of the bench, she looked over at the park, the screaming children, and watchful mothers, and then looked back up at Jasper. It was strange, but also comforting how easy she found it to just fall back into the same old habits and attitudes when with Jasper. Like there hadn't been years between now and when they'd last seen each other. She wondered if Jasper liked the ease that was still there between them. Wondered if she even noticed how funny it was that they could act so familiar and friendly despite how long it had been since they'd spoken. She shook the thought out of her head, it wasn't that important of a thing to mull over, after all. "So, is there anything other than underground violence that I can get into here?" she asked her.

Jasper gave a laugh, her usual loud, full body laugh that always filled the room, "I take it you didn't get the Beach City Brochure when you got here?" she joked and wrapped an arm around Lapis' shoulders, forcing the smaller girl to walk with her. "Come on, Laz, I'll show you the _real_ Beach City tour. I promise there's more to do in this town than you're giving it credit for."

"I'll be surprised if you're right," Lapis replied with a lazy grin, following her old friend as they made their way out of the park. Wondering just what sort of places and sights Jasper had to show her, and just how worth her time they would end up being anyways. Well, this _was_ Jasper she was talking about. The woman never let her down when it came to finding good hangout places, and hopefully, that skill of hers didn't die off during her life here in such a dull town.

To her surprise, Lapis had to give Jasper credit. There was a bit more to this dull town than what she had initially given it when she first glossed over the places. There was an old warehouse where some fisherman's son often held raves at. A lighthouse that people thought was haunted and often had kids wander in on dares or tests of courage. Some kid used to use it as his 'base' of some sorts until his dad told him no more going there after he tied some guy up and locked him in the lighthouse under the belief he was an alien or something. Jasper even showed her where the nightly wrestling and fight matches were held, hosted by the Funland owner, one 'Mr. Smiley' with the aid of his friend Mr. Frowny.

There were also, according to Jasper, a good number of… colorful people. She had said that with hesitation and a bit of irritation that Lapis wasn't sure how much she was going to like interacting with these people. But, the brutish woman had assured Lapis that despite their quirks they were mostly all good people. Mostly. Just that they could be a bit eccentric at times and might take a while to get used to them.

Whatever, Lapis hadn't really intended to be buddies with the city. She had Jasper so that was enough for her.

The two had been walking the residential area now for a while after exploring the business part of the town. Jasper had chatted on and on about things that had happened in Beach City while she'd lived there, and Lapis would return with the sort of things that she had been getting into ever since Jasper had been gone. Which had been mostly the same for both of them; the two had remained major troublemakers even while separated, which they both ended up getting a kick out of. Jasper seemed especially pleased when Lapis told her how she'd egged a former teacher of theirs car one spring break. Lapis greatly appreciated it when Jasper told her what teachers to be on the lookout for, too.

Jasper slowed as they turned the corner, and then stopped altogether much to Lapis' surprise and mild displeasure when she nearly walked right into the large woman. She watched as Jasper turned to look at the house they'd stopped in front of.

The house wasn't really anything special. It was a sizable, a tall house, two floors tall and kind of nice looking with white paint and pale pink trimming. There was a vibrant garden surrounding the front too, clearly worked on with exceptional care and devotion by how healthy and well kept the flowers were. Lapis couldn't even see a single weed among the colorful flowers, that alone spoke loudly of how devoted the owner of the garden must be. She was about to ask if this was Jasper's house, remembering that Jaspers mom gardened a little back in Empire City when she saw a woman come around from the back holding a watering can who was most certainly _not_ Jaspers mother.

She looked at Jasper and Lapis with a bit of surprise, but that gave way to a friendly warmth as she walked carefully around the flowers to walk to the gate separating her from the teens. She was tall, probably about six feet tall give or take. Her short hair was a pale red, almost pink, and she had a young, round face. She was probably in her late twenties at most. She put the watering can down and brushed her dirt covered gloves on her coveralls as she addressed the two.

"Jasper! It's so nice to see you," she greeted and turned to look at Lapis, her smile still just as warm, "and who's your friend here? I don't think I've seen her around before."

Jasper gave a smile in return, "It's good to see you too, Ms. Diamond," she said and patted Lapis on the shoulder, nudging her forward, "this is Lapis Lazuli, a friend from my old town. She's going to be attending school here starting on Monday," she explained.

Ms. Diamonds smile seemed to grow and she held a hand out to Lapis. "I'm happy to meet you, Lapis! My name is Scarlet Diamond, I own the garden shop downtown," she explained. Lapis hesitantly took hold of her gloved hand, not caring about the dried dirt caked on the fabric as she gave it a shake, this seemed to be the right choice as Scarlet seemed happy, "I hope you enjoy this town. We don't have much to offer, but we're a friendly bunch."

Lapis gave a weak smile as she took her hand back and rubbed the back of her head with her other hand, "Yeah, I'm sure I'll love it here," she lied.

The large woman beside her nudged on past Lapis to draw closer to the fence, "So, Ms. Diamond. Is… is she doing any better today?" Jasper's voice dropped to a low whisper as she glanced up to one of the windows on the house. Her expression was… strange. It was something that Lapis couldn't quite put her finger on. Concern? Worry? Something along those lines but not quite it. Regardless, it got Lapis' interest on what they were talking about.

Scarlet's own smile dropped and she shook her head, "Same as always. Sorry. I wish I could tell you something better."

"Damn…" Jasper muttered and backed off a step or two, "Well… can you tell her I said hi? And that if she ever feels like hanging out, just give me a ring? You know, the usual?"

"Will do. Are you two going to head off?" Scarlet asked them.

This time Lapis spoke up with a small shrug, "Might as well? We'd hate to impose and all," she said and glanced up at Jasper, "Still have things to do, but, it was really nice meeting you, Ms. Diamond."

The woman waved them goodbye as Lapis and Jasper continued their tread through the neighborhood. When they were a good few houses down, Lapis glanced up at her friend and raised a brow at the white haired woman, "So…" she began slowly, "what was that all about anyways? A friend of yours?"

Jasper shrugged, putting her hands in her pockets and kicking a stray can on the sidewalk. "Scarlet's the principal's wife, and I used to work at her garden shop once summer. She's a pretty nice lady, we're kind of friends I guess," she explained and upon Lapis' pressing stare, pulled a hand out to scratch the back of her neck.

"She… they're taking care of her niece right now, Peridot Diamond. She's a friend of mine, was my best friend in this town. Some stuff… some stuff happened. She dropped out of school and hasn't really left the house in almost a year and a half." Jasper finished, her voice going soft as she talked about this girl.

Lapis listened in silence, watching Jaspers expression as the woman talked and taking a moment to think of her own response, "So, you go over there now and then to see if she's doing okay?" Lapis asked and when Jasper nodded in agreement, Lapis gave a small smile, "Well, aren't you a big teddy bear. I'm sure she'll be fine, she has to be strong if she managed to be friends with you."

Jasper mumbled something and shook her head, "I hope so, she's a good kid." she said and then glanced up at the sky, "It's probably dinner time, do you want to grab a bite or something? I know a pretty good place to eat," she offered.

As though on cue, Lapis' stomach rumbled in demand for food, and Jasper let out a laugh as the blunette's face turned bright red from the embarrassment. "I'll take that as a yes. Come on, follow me." She doesn't even wait for a reply, Jasper just takes Lapis' hand in her much bigger one, practically dragging her down the street towards whatever destination the tall woman had in mind.

The place that Jasper had in mind to take Lapis too was a family dinner of sorts on the boardwalk. With perhaps the weirdest name Lapis had ever heard that, honestly, didn't sound that appetizing. 'Fish Stew Pizza'? Was that supposed to be a specific pizza, was that supposed to mean they sold fish, stew, _and_ pizza? She had questions and wasn't sure she was too eager to try this FSP of theirs.

But Jasper tugged her inside and took her to a booth by the window. A pretty woman with nice looking earrings named Jenny took their order and Jasper was the one who did the work, asking for a medium pepperoni pizza and two sodas.

"Don't mind the old man," Jasper whispered, pointing at an older man behind the counter, shouting at one of the customers, "He's a bit… angry at times. But, he makes some damn good pizza. Those are his daughters, Jenny and Kiki. The old lady must be out today, she's cool. He's got this… kind of rivalry of sorts? Going on with Beach Citywalk Fries, so try not to bring in any of their stuff to this place. He may fly off the handle." the woman explained as though Lapis would need to know all of this to survive the town.

Which, for all she knew, she probably did.

Their pizza and drinks came and, though Lapis had offered, Jasper insisted on paying for the food herself. Something about it being her treat since Lapis is now living here or something like that. She didn't really put up a fight, if someone was going to insist on paying, she'd let them. More money for her.

She had to hand it to the establishment, though. The pizza was good. Jasper hadn't been lying when she said the man made some delicious pizza. It was _nothing_ like the ones she'd get back in Empire City, it was way better. Lapis was glad to say she had a now a good place to go to for food when home cooked wasn't suiting her tastes.

They ate and chatted some more and before long they were up and heading down the boardwalk and to walk along the beach. The sun had started to set by this point and the lights on the sidewalk had turned on. It was kind of a nice setting, Lapis would give it that. The way the streetlights reflected against the ocean water.

Maybe she'd been a bit harsh at first. This town wasn't _all_ bad, it was really a bit too early to judge it as so. Maybe she would have fun here after all. At least she already had a friend so she wouldn't be alone. And she had the ocean, she could never really say no to the ocean and she'd been lying earlier when she said couldn't live solely on the ocean. Sure, she couldn't, but, she could never get bored of it either.

Jasper rested her elbow on Lapis' shoulder as they made their way down the boardwalk, looking down at her with a smile wide and full of teeth, "I see that smile of yours. You're starting to like this place, aren't you?" she teased.

Lapis rolled her eyes and shrugged the offending limb off, "In your dreams, meathead," she shot back, backing away from her and smiling as she spoke, "No way I could ever get used to such a lame town like this. I'm a city girl, after all."

With a laugh, Jasper reached out to grab her, "Well, then I'll just have to teach you a lesson about talking bad about my town," she joked but Lapis took a few more bouncing steps backward out of her reach before she could grab her.

She hadn't exactly looked to where she was going when she backed up, and as a result, Lapis' foot caught on a loose board and she was tumbling backward faster than she could process it.

Before she could fall, however, a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and she landed against a firm chest instead of the hard ground. "Whoa there, careful, doll, you don't want to hurt yourself, do you?"

Something on Jaspers face twisted from amusement to disdain as Lapis was helped back to her feet. She turned around to see a tall brunette smiling slyly at her. An expression on his face she was familiar with back in Empire City and not too pleased with. "Thank you," she said anyway, might as well thank him for catching her, even if she didn't like the look in his eyes.

The boy shrugged, "It's no problem, saving a pretty lady such as yourself is my job."

"I thought your job was to get drunk and not know personal boundaries, Kevin," Jasper shot back with an eye roll. "Or did you have a sudden career change and no one knew?"

Kevin didn't seem all that bothered by Jaspers remark, or her towering presence at all, his eyes were only on Lapis, "So, mind telling me your name, babe?" he asked her and gestured subtly to Jasper, "If you're interested, we can ditch the Hulk over here, I can show around town, help you have some _real_ fun, you know?"

Oh, Lapis knew what he meant alright and she wasn't interested.

"Sorry… Kevin, was it?" Lapis began, a grin of her own starting to form, "I'm not all that interested in lousy fuckboys. You know?" she couldn't help but chuckle at his stunned look. She took it that he didn't get rejected often enough to be used to it. Well, to add more salt to the wound, "Besides, I'm not interested in guys, period. Next time you want to hit on a girl, make sure they're straight, kay?"

Jasper just burst out laughing right behind her as Lapis said that, and Kevin began spluttering, his face red as he took a step back.

"You- you're into chicks?" he asked, his voice rising in pitch, "Gross. I'm outta here!"

It was always a good day when she managed to get a guy to back off for her being gay, it was an even better day when it was someone with homophobic tendencies that retreated like that because she said she was gay. So, Lapis was pretty pleased with herself as she watched Jasper quickly walk away to find some other girl to hit on.

Jasper shook her head as she watched, "Kevin's always like that," she explained when the guy in question was too far gone to hear them, "He hits on any girl he finds cute with the intents of getting laid. A douche, really. Yet somehow girls still fall for him," she chuckled a little as she patted Lapis on the back, "Good job though, that should keep him off your back. He's not into the girls on girls scene unless it's for something kinky that he can join in."

"Ew."

"That word describes him perfectly," Jasper said and started walking, "Anyways, let's get going. It's starting to look like it might rain. You want me to walk you back home?" she offered.

Lapis shook her head, "Nah, I'm good," she declined, "Pretty sure I can make it back home on my own. See you around, Jasper. Talk to you tomorrow?" he friend gave a nod of agreement as they started walking separate ways. The rain clouds starting to condense high above them.

* * *

Pearl had asked her how her day was when Lapis got back, she seemed pleased that Lapis already had a friend. The air between them was still rather awkward, but that was fine, it was cool, it could be worse. Her sister offered to make Lapis some dinner but the teen declined, she'd already eaten with Jasper. Instead, she excused herself to her room.

And that was where she was found a couple hours later, lying on her bed, watching the ceiling as the rain outside downpours. She couldn't sleep. Maybe it was the jetlag from the plane ride over here. Maybe it was just her trying to get used to the fact she'd now be living here for a while. Whatever the reason was, she just couldn't fall asleep.

She kept thinking back to that weird dream she had on the plane. Or rather, what vague bits she remembered. A prison cell, two women… something about death? It felt like the dream had been important, but she couldn't remember anything of it, and it kind of bugged her immensely. She couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right about it. That something wasn't right about any of this.

Lapis let out a long groan as she dragged one of the pillows over to cover her face with it, muffling her sounds of annoyance. The rain pattered loudly against her window. She heaved a sigh and lowered her pillow slightly as she glanced over at her clock. Just a little until midnight would strike.

Two days until Monday, two days until she started school. At least she already knew one person, that was better than nothing. Still, she wasn't looking forward to it all that much. She'd be dropped in the middle of a school year and then taken out of it again in the middle of it next year. She'd have no idea what was going on. What the class had talked about the previous week and would be behind. She hated to admit it but she would have to actually work hard to keep her grades up.

The clock ticked. A bolt of lightning struck. One of the clocks deeper in the apartment started a quiet bird chirping noise. It must be midnight. Well, it wasn't like staying up late was something new.

Lapis slipped off her bed, her feet landing on the cool floor as she made her way to the door. If her body had no intention of falling asleep anytime soon, she might as well get herself a drink. With tired eyes, she glanced at her reflection in the full body mirror hanging on the back of her door as she reached for the handle. God, she looked so tired and dead. Must have been all the stress.

Before she could touch the handle, her reflection in the mirror vanished. Well, not so much as it vanished, rather than the entire mirror was filled with a bright white light. Lapis had to take several steps back as she stared at the sudden change in surprised. The light was too bright, to the point she had to shield her eyes for a second before they got used to the lighting.

But, the light only lasted a few second because it dimmed down, though still relatively bright. Instead of Lapis' own reflection in the mirror, however, was something else entirely. A silhouette. There weren't that many details to it, but Lapis had a feeling she'd seen the person before. From what she could make out, the shape in the mirror was clearly a guy, tall with short hair. He was dancing like he was at some rave, not half bad but not all that great either.

She blinked, rubbed at her eyes. She had to be dreaming, right?

Hesitantly, Lapis reached out to the mirror, as though she were reaching out to the shape that was inside the glass. Taking a cautious step forward, she drew closer to the mirror, hand held out. Her fingers touched the cool surface. But instead of feeling something firm beneath them, her fingers slipped through it, as though she were touching water. Ripples had even covered the mirror as her hand sank into it, the silhouette vanishing. The glass had gone completely white again, it's texture like water, inviting Lapis to dive in again.

Barely able to hold back her scream, Lapis ripped her hand free from the mirror and threw herself backward away from the object. Her heart was racing, panic setting deep inside of her as she held her hand tightly, close to her chest, staring in shock and terror at her own mirror.

 _What just happened?!_

As soon as the question crossed her mind in an angry screech, a wave of exhaustion and dizziness washed over her. Her balance was quickly lost as she took a step back, tripping over her own bed and toppling over onto it. Her strength had quickly left her, as though it had all been sapped away when she touched her mirror.

She found herself passing out quickly after that.

The following day, the events of that night had become vague memories that Lapis could only assume to pass them off as a strange dream. Still, she looked at her mirror with slight concern and found herself being wary of touching it. Pearl would watch her like a timid rabbit, offering a few words here and there, but mostly unsure whether to be distant or try to be close to her.

Lapis continued to hang out with Jasper, and soon, the weekend passed and Monday came around.

On Monday, the entire town was buzzing with the news. Pearl didn't tell Lapis anything, for reasons likely that she wanted to 'protect' her. But Lapis found out anyway that morning when she met up with Jasper in front of the high school. Kevin was dead.


	4. Chapter 4

It was hard to believe he was dead.

Sure, Lapis wasn't exactly Kevin's number one fan. Just after one meeting she hated the guy and wanted nothing to do with him. But for him to die just days after she saw him. It was kind of surreal.

Apparently, it was a suicide.

The police weren't releasing a statement of how he killed himself, the rumor was that they couldn't even figure out the cause of death other than it was somehow self-inflicted. A lot of people were suspicious of it even being a suicide and were saying he got murdered. But, the masses quietly accepted that Kevin simply killed himself for some reason or another. Some people weren't so quiet, still, couldn't wrap their heads around the whole thing.

"It doesn't really make sense is all I'm saying," Jasper said as she stabbed at the cardboard flavored mashed potatoes on her tray. She and Lapis had gotten a table to themselves during lunch away from the others. She glanced at Lapis as she spoke, "I may not have known him that well, but, I knew he wasn't really the kind of guy to go off and kill himself."

Lapis, sipping from her milk carton, shrugged, "Just goes to show you that you never really know if a person is 'the kind of person' to do that or not until it's too late," was her answer. She'd not touched her food yet, not really in the mood for the thing the school wanted to pass off as real food. Sure, Jasper knew Kevin better than her. But, that's how the world was. You couldn't just say 'this person looks like the type to kill themselves' and 'this person doesn't look like the kind who'd kill themselves'. That act, it went deeper than physical appearances.

Sure, Kevin may not have looked like the person who'd go and off themselves. But, that's what he did.

Typing away at her phone, Lapis hesitated as she thought back to the previous night. It still bugged her. It was just weird that in her dream she saw Kevin in the mirror, and then he died. Something about it… it didn't sit right with Lapis.

Either way, he was the buzz of the school right now. Kevin was all any of the students talked about, and frankly, Lapis couldn't find it in her to even really care that he was dead. Sure, it might be a bit strange, but, it wasn't like it was her business or not. He was just a person she barely knew who was now dead, not someone she was going to cry a river over, because why should she?

"So, Jasper, any plans for after school?" Lapis asked as Jasper continued to eat lunch.

The woman thought about it and then shrugged, "I'm thinking of heading downtown, check out some of the shops. Window shopping, mostly," she answered with not really much interest in it, "since the drama with Kevin, wrestling practice got canceled today. So it's something to pass the time. Want to join?"

"Wouldn't be asking if I didn't want to."

Besides, it'd be nice to get away from all the gossip. No matter where she went, all anyone talked about was Kevin and, sure she felt bad that he was dead, she wished they'd stop talking about him all the time like it was some kind of conspiracy.

At least she had the afternoon to look forward to in getting away from it all.

Maybe she could try and figure out the whole mirror thing tonight, too. Maybe she'd find someone else appearing in her mirror tonight and then another body would show up later this week.

She hoped not. But, Lapis had to admit that a part of her kind of wanted that to happen, too.

She hated that she wanted that.

* * *

Eventually, school came to an end and, after stopping by her locker, Lapis had met up with Jasper at the front of the building. The woman led her away from the school and downtown as she had initially said to browse the stores and do some window shopping to kill some time before heading home.

Well, as it turned out, by 'window shop' what Jasper had really meant was to drag Lapis to some antique store downtown.

The antique shop was exactly as Lapis had imagined it to be. Full of old stuff her grandma would have and smelling of those little mints you'd find in a bowl at a meeting or that your grandma would keep stuffed in her purse. It was a cluttered, bland little place full of old junk owned and run by an elderly lady named Fluorite and her four adopted children.

Right now the counter was manned by an older woman in her mid-twenties with big poofy black hair and truckload of anxiety. Lapis spotted a pair of twins leaving as they came in whom Jasper said were also part of the family. Apparently, a friend of theirs, Lars-something-or-other, hung around here too when he wasn't lazing about at work at the donut shop.

Jasper didn't really have any intention of buying anything, but, apparently, she liked to browse around for something that might catch her interest. She said a lot of neat things came into the store, a lot of one-of-a-kind sort of stuff, and she always kept her eye out for things that she might like.

Honestly? Lapis didn't get the appeal of antiques. They were old, kind of ugly, and really not all that durable. But, she walked around the store (a rather sizable one too, Not exactly huge, but bigger than what someone would expect this kind of store to be like) with Jasper, glancing this way and that at all the little trinkets and furniture.

To be frank, the ceramics were horrifying. The dolls looked like something right out of a horror movie; tiny little killers wanting to steal your soul and murder your body. They gave Lapis the chills. Even the bunnies looked like they wanted a bloodbath.

Eventually, they wandered over to a mass of mirrors.

Just seeing them reminded Lapis of the other night, the Mirror Incident as she was dubbing it. A shiver ran down her spine as she traced a finger along the frame of a fancy looking mirror.

"Hey, Jasp," she started, looking up at Jasper who was flexing in front of one of the hanging mirrors and grinning like the doofus she was. Her friend gave a hum in response to show she was listening and Lapis turned her attention back to the mirror. "You probably won't believe me, I don't think I really believe it all that much myself. But… I saw Kevin before he died."

What if that had something to do with him dying; him appearing in the mirror.

Her friend turned to look at her, smile falling, "Wait, seriously?" she asked, "Like, you saw, saw him? Was he okay? Did he seem off or anything?"

Lapis quickly shook her head at the question as she withdrew her hand from the mirror, "I mean, not like that," she corrected Jasper, "I was in my room and, well, I saw him in my mirror. Well, I saw a silhouette of him, but I'm sure it was him. You can't mistake the awful hair. I tried touching it, to see if it was real but then, my hand just went right into the mirror."

There was a long pause before Jasper started laughing, a deep, full bellied laugh as she wrapped her arms around her middle and bent over, "Wow, that was awful. You almost had me going there for a moment, but then you brought up mirrors," Jasper said and shook her head, "Did you ask the mirror who the fairest of them all was?"

Lapis felt heat shooting to her cheeks. God, this was such a dumb move trying to explain this to Jasper. Of course she wouldn't believe her! "No, it wasn't like that! I just!" she fumbled for her words, stomping her feet a little.

Eventually, Jaspers laughter died down and she glanced over to the desk to see that Rhodonite hadn't moved. She looked back to Lapis with a grin as she walked to the mirror Lapis was at and studied it for a minute.

"Okay, one… two… three," she said before poking the glass with a finger. Nothing happened except a small smudge on the clean surface appearing. She gave a nod and looked back to Lapis, "The mirror was perfectly normal, no images and no going into it," she said as though to confirm the situation to both her and Lapis.

Lapis could feel her face burning as she turned to the mirror, "I don't get it, if it was a dream it felt so real," she said as she reached up to the glass, "I was able to touch it and it just…" she pressed her hand against the glass and it slipped on in, feeling much like she'd dipped her hand into cold water.

Beside her, Jasper spluttered and stumbled backward as Lapis was barely able to bite back a scream.

"W-whoa!" she whispered as she jerked her hand free. She cradled the limb to her chest closely, both staring at the mirror in shock and disbelief.

It took a few moments, maybe minutes before one of them spoke up. It was Jasper who broke the silence, clearing her throat and fumbling for words, she looked at Lapis with uncertain eyes, "You said… you saw Kevin in the mirror before he died, right?" she said slowly and Lapis nodded in response.

"What if… what if that had something to do with him dying?" Lapis asked her, "I mean, it was sudden, what if… what if someone else appears in the mirror again?"

Jasper closed her eyes, "It's hard enough to believe that you can stick your hands into mirrors, and I just saw it. But seeing people who are about to die in mirrors?" she asked her, "That's a bit much, how can you be sure there's a connection?"

"A gut feeling," Lapis responded, "Come home with me tonight, we'll watch for another figure in the mirror. I have this, I have this feeling that it's going to happen again."

The large athlete bit her lip and then, after contemplating it all, gave a nod, "Okay… this is so messed up, I don't have any idea what's going on," Lapis didn't have the faintest idea either, so at least she wasn't alone, "But, okay… But… if we see someone in the mirror, what are we even going to do?"

Lapis faltered, "I… I don't know. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess?"

It wasn't really assuring. But, it wasn't like they had any idea of what they were doing or what was going on. The first thing to do was to get an idea of what it was that was happening, right?

A couple of hours later, when it had started to rain, Lapis and Jasper headed back to her apartment.

Pearl didn't offer any form of questioning when Lapis had brought Jasper over to spend the night without a heads up. She quietly accepted their guest and offered her a serving of the dinner she'd made for herself and Lapis. But, Lapis just brushed the offer off by informing her that she and Jasper had already eaten earlier. Again, Pearl didn't question or argue, just accepted this as fact and just told them to help themselves to the leftovers should they get hungry later that night.

Lapis supposed she was a bit grateful for that. It was better that Pearl didn't try to get in her business about why she was bringing Jasper over. She had to admit, Pearl so far was a bit of a pushover, and she could so use that to her advantage to keep her and anyone else off her back. So long as her sister didn't grow a spine.

But, regardless.

She and Jasper had just taken the bags of soda they'd bought and a few snacks from the kitchen into Lapis' room. If it was anything like it had been the other night when Lapis saw who she was dead certain was Kevin in her mirror, then they still had a few hours to see if it'd happen again.

So, they spent the next few hours with the door closed, facing the mirror and just chatting, reading and playing some video games on the DS Jasper had brought.

Pearl had knocked on the door once or twice to check up on them, the first time to see if they needed anything since she was making a quick trip to the store, the second was when it started getting dark to make sure that Jasper had indeed gotten permission from her parents to stay the night.

After that it was peace. Pearl went to bed and they were up as the clock kept ticking and the rain pattered against the window. Eventually the games Jasper brought got boring and they just resolved to sit on the floor chatting about this and that. But that, too, got boring after a while.

"Look, Lapis, how are you even sure that it's going to happen again?" Jasper asked, referring to Lapis' claim to have seen Kevin in the mirror prior to his death. She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced out the window. "I mean, you could have just imagined that."

"Like I 'imagined' my hand phasing into the mirror?" Lapis shot back with an arched brow, "Or wait, did you imagine that too back in the store?"

Her friend flushed and then angrily shook her head, "No, I mean, I…" she fumbled for her words before taking a deep breath and releasing it after a couple of moments, "Okay, I can't deny that. I saw it myself, you reached right into that mirror like it was water, that… that wasn't a hallucination, that happened. But this? Seeing people in the mirror? I mean, even if it did happen, there's no guarantee that it'll happen again, or even tonight, right?"

She was right about that, not that Lapis really wanted to admit it. She had no idea what triggered it last night other than it was late and raining. But, she didn't want to tell Jasper that, not when she had been all but certain it would happen again.

"Just… Just have faith, okay?" Lapis said instead, tapping her fingers against her thighs in time with the rain on the windows. Jasper just grumbled something that could have been taken as an 'okay', and they just...waited…

Time ticked on, the hands loud on the clock as they waited, eyes watching the mirror as the rain continued on outside.

Lapis would be lying if she said she wasn't getting a little impatient. She threw herself across Jasper's legs, staring up at the ceiling with narrowed, angry blue eyes as she let out a loud, stressed sigh.

" Come on, mirror !" she yelled quietly as to not disturb Pearl and draw her attention, "I'm placing all my chips on you, so don't flake on me now!"

Her friend chuckled a little as she looked out the window, "Probably close to midnight by now," she mused, "I vote that if nothing happens in the next half hour, we just go to bed. I mean, we still have class tomorrow, and I actually want to be awake for it and not so tired it's agonizing."

"Class is the best time to sleep," Lapis countered as she pushed herself to her feet and glared at her mirror, "But, can't believe you let me down. I give you one job and this is how you respond? Typical."

She huffed and turned around, walking towards Jasper and throwing herself across the bed Jasper had been leaning against, "I give up."

The rain against the window was kind of soothing and she was kind of tired. If Lapis wanted to, she could just fall asleep right here. It was clear that she wasn't going to get any images out of her mirror tonight, so why even bother anymore? Lapis buried her face into her pillow and let out a long groan of defeat. She felt like a bit of a fool for trying to show Jasper what she'd seen the other night.

Speaking of Jasper. She hadn't actually said a word since Lapis declared her defeat. Not even a chuckle and that was kind of odd. So, she peeked up from where she laid to see what Jasper was doing and nearly tumbled off her bed in surprise.

The mirror was glowing.

A vague figure was in it, moving about in the glass.

Jaspers' eyes were wide, her mouth parted as she tentatively reached out to the mirror, "No way…" her voice was weak as she stepped backward and looked at Lapis much like she had in the antique store, before looking back to the mirror, "This… this can't be real, right?" she asked her.

"It's real alright. This is what it was like the other night," Lapis got off her bed and approached the mirror, brows furrowing as she looked at the figure it showed this time. The person was a lot shorter than Kevin's silhouette on it had been. Short hair that stuck up all over in some kind of a mess, a skinny frame… "Can't really say I recognize who this is."

Jasper swallowed, her hands were shaking as she clasped one over Lapis' shoulder, "Are you… are you sure that you saw Kevin in this mirror before he died?" she asked her, her voice trembled a little, "As in, who appears in this mirror is going to die?"

The blue-haired teen nodded, "Yeah, I mean, that's all I can think it means," she said as she glanced at the mirror and then at Jasper, "I think that's what it's doing. Kevin appeared on it and then he died. So, it makes sense if who appears on the mirror dies, right?" at least, it made sense to her. Though it sounded a little like some anime bullshit, it was the only plausible explanation she could think of, "Why do you ask?"

Her friend took a moment to find her voice as she stared intently at the silhouette in the mirror, "Because… because I think I know who… I think that's Peridot."


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note:** Another Title for this chapter is Peridot Exposition. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, as always, let me know what you think, constructive criticism is always welcome.

* * *

Peridot.

According to Jasper, the figure they had seen in the mirror was her friend, Peridot Diamond. Jasper didn't seem to have any doubt in her mind over that, and since Lapis had yet to meet this elusive person, she had no right to really doubt Jaspers claim.

Her friend was completely shaken by this. More horrified over _who_ they had seen in the mirror more than that they had seen someone in the mirror.

Honestly, Lapis couldn't remember a time when she'd ever seen Jasper as worried as she had been when they saw the mirror. She paced Lapis' room, continued to try and call Peridot multiple time. Lapis did her best to assure Jasper that Peridot wasn't answering because it was late and was likely sleeping. That she wasn't answering because, as far as she knew, the girl had been ignoring all calls for a while now so it wasn't anything to consider concerning over. To be honest, Jaspers own anxiety was starting to rub on Lapis and make her a bit concerned, too. She couldn't believe it; Jasper was making her get worried over a complete stranger.

Well, she was probably somewhat decent of a person if Jasper was so fond of her, so Lapis figured she could at least be somewhat worried over this unknown person. Besides, she couldn't let her friend down and let this girl die, not that she really had any idea of how they were going to save her in the first place.

It was safe to say that neither girls got any sleep that night. They spent the hours until the sun rose bouncing ideas off one another on what was going on and how they could keep what happened to Kevin from happening to Jaspers friend. Their restless night didn't go unnoticed by Pearl, and Lapis gave her a snappish response when her sister tried to inquiry as to what was wrong, far too tired and exhausted to even bother explaining.

School was even more Hellish than usual because of her night without rest. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open and every time she started to doze off the teachers would snap at her to pay attention. Lapis liked to commend herself on not yelling back at them when they did that. It truly took willpower and self-control. Besides, she couldn't really risk getting detention that day. Not only would it be a bit humiliating to get the slip on her second day, but Jasper made it very insistent that they were to be on the move as soon as the final bell rang.

So, the first chance they got, when the final bell rang and students crowded the halls, the two girls were out of the building in record time. In no time at all one would find Jasper dragging Lapis across town much like her first day in that town. The large woman marching forward like a behemoth on a mission as they left the school and made their way to the residential area.

Before long they were standing at the door of the Diamond family once again. Jasper brought her hand up and gave the door a quick series of loud knocks. Lapis watched as she bounced from foot to foot impatiently, and soon enough the door opened and Scarlet was smiling at them.

"I'm surprised you're back already," she said to them, leaning against the doorframe, "what can I help you with?"

Before Jasper could speak, Lapis spoke up, "We actually wanted to speak with Peridot, if possible," she explained and glanced past Scarlet to see if she could spot anyone else in the house, "She's here, right?"

The woman nodded her head in response, "Yeah, she's here. Locked herself away in her room as always," she confirmed and then stepped back slightly, "I could try to get her to talk to you guys, but, I don't think she'll come out."

"We'd really appreciate it if you could try," Lapis said.

Scarlet nodded again and told them to wait as she retreated into the house. Lapis could hear the floors creaking as she walked up a set of stairs. The two waited there by the doorway for a minute, two, then three.

"You really think she'll be able to bring Peridot down here?" Lapis asked, whispering to Jasper.

Her friend gave a noncommittal shake of her head, "I don't know, I really hope so," she answered and gnawed on her lower lip, "I just want to know for sure, see with my own eyes that the pipsqueak is okay, you know? After what we saw, I'm just…"

"I'm sure she's fine," Lapis gave Jasper a pat on the arm. It was a lie. She had no idea how Peridot was doing, had no idea if she was going to even survive this if appearing in the mirror meant she was going to die. But, if lying would assure Jasper then she would lie like a pro.

Before Jasper could really say anything in response to Lapis, the click-clack of shoes on the floor drew their attention to the returning Scarlet.

She had a frown on her face as she approached them, a defeated expression as the older woman shook her head when she got close enough to the two teens. "Sorry, guys," she apologized, "No use, Peridot's pretty insistent on not taking visitors, and I really don't want to force her to talk to people when she doesn't want to."

It was clear that Jasper wanted to argue, that she was going to disagree and try to demand entrance or something of the sort, so Lapis stepped in quickly and offered a placating smile.

"It's fine," she assured the woman, "If Peridot doesn't want to see us, well, like you said, we can't really force her to. We'll just have to stop by some other time, and hopefully she's more in the mood to have guests next time we visit," she said and took Jasper by the arm, "Since there's nothing else to do here, we'll take our leave. It was nice seeing you again, Mrs. Diamond."

Scarlet gave them a smile and returned their goodbye. As the door closed gently behind them, Lapis led Jasper out to the street. They'd have to think of something else to do then if they couldn't speak to Peridot directly. Not that Lapis had any idea of what else they could do, but, it was a tad too early to call it quits.

* * *

The blinds were opened a crack so that green eyes could peer out the window and watch the two retreating figures. An all too familiar giant of a woman with bleached blonde hair and muscles that could rival any mans. Beside her was a less familiar girl; tall, thin and electric blue hair. She had watched as they exchanged words with her aunt, watched as they walked back to the sidewalk by the street and talk amongst themselves. She watched them like a mouse watched a lion.

Cautious, wary, fearful.

As though sensing she was being watched, the blue haired girl turned her head and glanced up to her window. She closed the blinds quickly and hid against the wall by the window as to not let them know she had been watching. She held her breath and waited as she listened to the sound of her own heart beating.

 _One... two… three…_

After the third beat, she slowly put her fingers to the binds once more and gently pushed them down, sneaking a look once again.

The two had begun walking again, walking away from the house and away from herself. Once they had turned the corner, she closed the blinds again and backed away from the window. She let out a breath she had been holding, her head falling down and her shoulders sagging as she sat down on a beanbag chair, sinking into it as she heaved a sigh and looked up at the ceiling with tired eyes.

It had been how long now? How long had it been since she'd moved into this house? Since she moved in with her aunts? Since her entire life was destroyed? About two years now, right? It still felt like it had just been yesterday.

She looked down at her legs, or rather, what was left of her legs. Her frown deepened as she corrected herself.

Right below the knees was shiny metal and plastic. Sure, they were top of the line; the latest in prosthesis technology and rather expensive, too. (Nothing that the Diamonds couldn't afford, as wealthy as they were thanks to their massive company, one that Peridot was to take the reigns of once she was of age). Still, they couldn't compare to real legs made of flesh, blood and bones. These were just a hunk of metal that had to be meticulously cared for every day.

She dragged a hand over her face, pushing up her glasses in the process.

When was Jasper going to learn to leave her alone? She didn't want to see anyone, didn't want to be bothered by anyone. She just wanted to be alone once and for all, curl up and just disappear. It'd be so much easier to do that if people just left her alone.

Honestly, Peridot used to be a lot more lively than she was now. Friendlier. Happier.

Then the moment of tragedy happened and everything crashed down around her. She still had nightmares of it, even today. The yelling, the rain, the thunder, the screaming, the bright lights of the oncoming car, her own tumbling down the steep hill. The blood and pain and the screaming all around her.

Peridot lost her legs. She lost her smile. She lost her parents.

Her aunts had taken custody of her and she lived with them ever since. Unable to move past the incident, Peridot had cut herself off from everyone around her. She just stayed in her room, waiting to disappear. She hardly ate (As proven by all the weight she'd lost to the point where she was now a bit underweight much to her aunts worry) and the closest she came to going outside was opening her window and sticking her head out it.

She spent most her time in her room, her time spent just curled up with her computer or with her games. She'd grown a fear of thunder because of that day, and rarely slept. Unable to bring herself to willingly sleep, because every time she closed her eyes her dreams were plagued with nightmares.

She hated the nightmares. They always made her remember what she didn't want to. They made her dread falling asleep. She couldn't remember the last peaceful, restful sleep she'd had since it all started.

Peridot glanced up at the full length mirror that was stationed by the corner of her room. She could see her reflection staring back at her.

"You want to disappear, right?" her reflection told her, yellow eyes looking as though they were staring right into her soul, it's voice, her own voice, speaking the lines and words that echoed in her mind and resonated in her heart, "You want to just be swallowed up by the void, to snuff out that little light of yours, that's what you want, isn't it?"

She looked at the mirror and gave it a small, crooked smile that didn't make it to her eyes. For the past couple of days she'd been seeing and hearing her own reflection speak to her. She must have been going crazy since she was now hallucinating. Well, it was bound to happen one of these days, and she didn't even have the energy in her to feel worried. She couldn't find it in her to even question the conjuration of her mind. She said nothing to her reflections question. She just stared at it with an empty look.

"If you want to vanish, come with me, you can go somewhere where you will be alone like you deserve, to be cast away to die like you deserve. It's your fault, after all. Your fault everything's like this, so you ought to die a solitary death like you deserve, right?" Her reflection held a hand out to her, the expression on the mirror inviting, welcoming, beckoning her to take the outstretched hand.

Peridot got to her feet, her heart heavy with guilt and grief, her reflections offer so tempting. She walked to the mirror, her reflections smile grew.

A knock sounded on her door.

When Peridot looked back to her mirror, it was perfectly normal, her reflection perfectly normal. She heaved a sigh, rubbing her temple, she shook her head. Her mind was playing tricks on her again, tempting her with offers that were too good to be true.

"Yes?" She called out to whoever was on the other side of the door.

"It's me," her aunt Blanche answered, she must have just gotten home, usually she stayed at the school later than this, "I've brought some worksheets for you, we can work on them together, prepare you for your test tomorrow."

Ever since Peridot had dropped out of school, something she did when she lost her legs, her aunt had taken it upon herself to homeschool her. She often collected assignments and worksheets from the teachers Peridot would have otherwise have had. She was trying her best to make sure Peridot still got an education, taught her History, English, Science and Math. Peridot was particularly good at Math.

She glanced back at her mirror, she could see something shimmer over it, a flash of yellow eyes, "I'll be right out, Auntie," she called back.

Her delusions and hallucinations could wait for now. They'd be back when night fell, anyways, they always were. Enticing her to its offer. Maybe if she had the energy, the motivation, she would take it up on its offer.

For now, she would just follow her usual routine. She didn't have the drive to do much of anything else.


	6. Chapter 6

They'd not really gotten anywhere going to Peridot's home. Not that Lapis had honestly expected them to get anything done that way. Even though she knew nothing of Peridot, from what she did know, she knew the girl wasn't going to just let them come in like they wanted to. Of course, that upset Jasper and who could blame her? Her friend's life could very well be on the line if they didn't figure out what was going on and how to stop it.

And they had no ideas of where to go from here.

Well… maybe just one idea.

"Lapis, this is a _horrible_ idea," Jasper hissed as they closed the door to her room. The full length mirror faced them in return, their reflections staring at it with apprehension and fear.

They were going to take the plunge. They were going to dive into the mirror to see if there was anything they could do from the other side to stop this train of events. They knew there was another side, Lapis had felt it when she had placed her hand inside of it.

What they didn't know was if it was safe or not.

But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"It's a bad idea, but it's the only idea we have," Lapis responded as she cracked her knuckles, picking up the picket knife she slipped it into her pockets. She could bring it for protection, or if they needed to cut something out of their way. Precautions were something they could take the liberty of using.

Honestly, they had no idea what was on the other side of the mirror. It could be nothing; it could be everything. But, at the moment it was the only chance they had at uncovering this whole mystery. People died when they appeared in the mirror, Lapis was able to reach inside the mirror like it was nothing. It wasn't normal, and there had to be a connection. Something deeper hidden behind it all that only exploring the mirror would uncover.

Was Lapis scared? Yeah. A little. Frankly speaking she was terrified. But, sitting around doing nothing would get them nothing.

"I'm all ready to go. You?" Lapis asked as she checked her pockets to double check. Jasper made a grunt of response, arms crossed against her thick chest as she glared at the mirror. Lapis looked at her friend then back at the glass, "Are you even going to fit through there?" she asked as a side thought. It wasn't exactly a wide mirror and Jasper was… well... Jasper. She wasn't thin like Lapis. She was broad, thick, muscular. Definitely wider than the narrow mirror.

"I'll fit," her friend said, tone not leaving any noise of argument. "Let's just go in already."

Lapis had to quirk a small smile, "I thought you were saying how this was a terrible idea, and now you're in such a rush to go in there?" she teased playfully, "Sounds like someone is eager. Were you just lying when you said you didn't want to go in?"

"I just want this over with," Jasper answered as she marched to the mirror and prodded at it. Nothing. "Are you even sure it's going to work?" she asked.

Lapis nodded as she walked up to her and grabbed Jaspers large hand in her smaller one, her other one reached to the mirror, "It'll work. Just, hang on to me, don't let go," they didn't know what would happen if they let go. So far Lapis was the only one who could stick body parts into the reflective glass, they didn't even know if Jasper could enter, even hanging onto Lapis.

But, they had to try.

Swallowing hard, Lapis drove her hand into the mirror. Just like all the other times, her hand slipped through like it was nothing. She reached deeper until she was elbow deep. It was cool to the touch, the texture was weird, different. She went in deeper until she had her arm up to her shoulder in it.

"Here we go," she said to Jasper. She hoped the air was clean on the other side. She hoped it had air.

Taking a deep breath, Lapis threw the rest of her body against the glass and fell in without any problem. Jasper, hanging tightly onto her, tumbled in moments later.

And they fell.

They fell through the air, through the vortex of silver and grey. Screaming but silent, clinging tightly to one another. They fell fast and hard.

And then they landed just as hard onto the ground.

Jasper hit the ground first, sprawled out on her back she grabbed her head and neck, groaning as she did. Lapis came down next. Though thankfully she didn't land on the ground, her fall broken by Jasper who became an unwilling pillow for her. Not that it was any better landing on hard muscles compared to the hard floor. With her teeth gritted together, Lapis rolled off her large friend and rubbed her ribs, knowing full well that they were going to be bruised. Maybe she could ice them when they got back to her room.

Looking up, she felt a sense of regret come over her as she corrected her line of thought. _If_ they managed to get back home and out of here.

"This is..." Lapis began as she slowly pushed herself to stand, her legs shaking slightly under her, "this isn't what I expected," she could only admit as she took in the world surrounding them.

She thought that the other side of the mirror would have something... something more. Something different. But, she supposed that thinking on it now, what they got instead was a far more accurate representation of the inside of a mirror than anything Lapis had in mind. But, that didn't make it any less jarring, any less chill-inducing. She felt trepidation dig it's roots deep inside her as she tried to find any sort of exit.

All around them were mirrors.

The entire world they'd stepped into was made of nothing but mirrors.

The ground they stood on was a thick layer of glass, their images staring back at them from below. The sky was a mirror, blank save for little dots in it, too far up for it to catch any sort of image. And though the world seemed vast- Lapis certainly couldn't see an end to it from any direction- all over the place were large outcrops of thick, jagged mirrors. As though they were supposed to be rocks erected from the Earth. They shimmered back everything they saw and distorted it.

The world... it was scary.

But, Lapis wasn't going to admit that. Not to herself. Not to Jasper. Not to anyone.

"So, this is the inside of the mirror?" Jasper asked, finding her own voice as she got on her feet and looked around, "It's freaky... and more importantly. How are we supposed to get out of here?" she asked, voicing the question Lapis wanted to not think about.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets, she didn't know why, but she felt agitation prickling at her skin, felt hostility bubbling up inside of her. "I don't know!" she snapped back without meaning too. Her nerves were on fire and she couldn't understand why, but her emotions, her temper, she was quickly losing control of it. Was it because of this place, or because of her own nerves?

"You _don't_ know?" Jasper spluttered back, "You're the one who dragged us in here and you _don't know_ how we're supposed to get out? What the Hell, Lapis?" it seemed even Jasper was growing agitated and angry in here. Her hard amber gaze was locked onto Lapis, as though blaming Lapis for this. If they were trapped here, the blame would be solely on Lapis.

She bit her tongue, could taste the bitter copper flavor that followed after, and started marching forward. She ignored Jaspers yells for her to get back here, and soon enough heard the heavy footsteps as her friend made to move after her. She didn't want to argue with Jasper, didn't want to fight her. But she had a feeling if she opened her mouth she was just going to spit something mean out at her.

"Where are you going?" Jasper demanded when she caught up to the blue haired teen.

Lapis shrugged and kept walking, "What does it look like?" she asked her, "I'm doing what I came here to do; find out what the hell was going on. We can figure out how we're getting out of here after we figure out where we even are." Didn't Jasper want to save her friend? Wasn't that what they were in here for? They could figure out how to get out of there later. But right now, exploring the place was the best idea, right? They could find some information and maybe even find their escape on the way.

It was better than just standing around and complaining.

Jasper grumbled something that could be seen as a reply and followed Lapis as they walked. Neither said a word. They just walked and walked and walked, going in a straight line in one direction. They kept coming across the tall mirror-rocks as they walked, they shined and warped their reflections.

It felt like forever, but they came across nothing else but mirrors. No life. No objects. No exits. Just themselves and mirrors. Eventually, they found themselves right back where they started, much to their disbelief.

"How is that even possible?" Jasper asked hands to her head as she tried to make sense of it all. "We didn't make any turns, no curves. We walked in one straight line, and somehow we're back here?"

Lapis sighed, her legs were tired, her body was tired. "I don't know, I'm just not going to question it," she sighed again and shook her head. Of course, why wouldn't a world made of mirrors make them walk a circle without them realizing it? Was there anything of real world logic that applied to this one? She wasn't sure. Wanting to sit down, Lapis leaned back against one of the mirrors that stood up and crossed her arms. "I'm out of ideas, what about you Ja-aaah!"

She was cut off as she tumbled backwards through the mirror she had been leaning against.

Landing on her back, Lapis groaned as she hit the hard ground. So much falling in one day, she had to have filled her quota for the day, right? The ground here was even harder than in the previous area. She glared at the large mirror that she had fallen out of. For some reason, this one was actually framed unlike the others they'd come across.

"Lapis? Lapis!" Jasper yelled and soon she came hurdling through the mirror. Unlike Lapis, she didn't fall. She braced her legs and landed in a crouch. It probably helped her that the mirror they came from wasn't from high above. "Okay, good, you're okay," Jasper breathed when she saw Lapis.

"If you count a bruised up back okay, then, yeah," Lapis answered as she sat up. Her friend helped her to her feet and it was at that moment that she realized that this place was entirely different from where they'd been previously.

It wasn't barren save for mirrors.

They were standing outside of a building. Flashing lights appeared in the windows, and the sky outside it was dark. Lapis could hear the music blaring on inside even from out here. It looked... well... it looked like a normal building from the outside world. Did they make it to the outside world?

"It's the old warehouse," Jasper stared in awe and then looked at Lapis, "Beach City warehouse, we have raves and parties down there all the time. But... how is it, why is it here? Why are _we_ here?" she asked.

Could it be something conjured up by the mirrors? But, then why?

So many questions and Lapis didn't have the answer to. "Let's go in," she decided as she marched towards the doors. Jasper didn't complain as she followed. It looked like they were finally getting somewhere. They pushed the heavy, double doors open and slipped inside of the party building, into the den of lights, music and teenage screw-ups.

They didn't notice that they were being watched.

* * *

 **Authors Note**

A double update, I hope you guys enjoy this and the next chapter. As always leave a comment and let me know what you thought.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Note**

This was a double update, so do make sure you go back to the previous chapter so you don't miss it.

* * *

The inside was… well… it looked exactly like someone would think a party scene would look like.

The lights were flashing bright, neon colors all over, strobe lights above. The music was loud, so loud that it shook Lapis to the core. There was a counter by the far wall with what Lapis could only assume was alcohol and a few cheap chips. There was a raised area on the other wall where a DJ's booth sat. A section in front of it, right under the flashing lights, was a dance floor.

It was jarring, but what was even more jarring was that there were people inside.

They were dancing, drinking, just enjoying themselves. Lapis felt her breath hitch in her throat, they looked so real. Were they real? She didn't recognize the faces. But, did she and Jasper really leave the mirror, or were they still inside of the mirror?

"Lapis, be careful," Jasper whispered, hand on her shoulder. Her grip was tight, fingers digging into Lapis shoulder. It was clear just how on edge Jasper was herself.

Lapis nodded and started walking. There was a door at the other side of the room. It was probably a bad idea, but Lapis started to make her way to it. Shoving past the crowds of dancers, past sweaty bodies as they swayed and jumped. They gave no sign that they even noticed Lapis or Jasper pushing against them to get by. It was like the two weren't there at all.

The room seemed to bigger than originally thought, it took longer than it should have to reach the door, as though it pulled itself farther away from them the closer they got to it. But, eventually the two girls made it.

What was on the other side of the door was another dance floor. Multi-colored tiles. Flashing lights. Except, unlike the previous room, there was no one in here except Lapis and Jasper. Even the music had quieted down somewhat. The room itself... it was less like a room and more like a long hall. It was concerning, yes, but, so far everything they'd come across since entering the mirror had been concerning.

"Lapis, we shouldn't hold off going anywhere," Jasper said slowly as she looked around, "We should try and think of some kind of plan."

"We have a plan," Lapis answered, "find a way out of here, find out why Peridot appeared on the mirror," she said, as though it were obvious. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than nothing. So far they had made ground as far as she was concerned. They reached a new place, and if they kept walking, then Lapis was sure they'd uncover _something_ that was useful.

They might even find a door back to their world.

With that, she started walking. Her footsteps echoed on the dance floor hall, firm clicks and clacks with every step. "So far we haven't run into any danger, so what's the harm if we keep moving forward?"

Jasper grumbled but followed after Lapis as she walked. Taking the rear as Lapis kept in front and led the way.

The hall was long, no doors and no windows. Occasionally they came upon a turn here or there. But the path in general was very linear. No forks, no other routes to take. It was a very bland hall, though. Like there was nothing else going for it other than the floor and lights. Lapis thought to herself that it's creator needed a better interior decorator. She couldn't help but laugh to herself at that.

However, their luck proved to be coming to a screeching halt.

Turning the corner on their journey through the warehouse party zone, they saw them. Monsters.

They were like slugs. Four of them pacing the halls. They slithered slowly on the floor, goopy looking masses of black slime with greyish-blue masks on their faces. Lapis wasn't sure what to make of them, but they noticed her and Jasper very quick.

"Lapis, run!" Jasper hissed as she turned to flee, but it proved to be no use.

Whatever she said about slow previously was just proven wrong. They moved fast to reach the girls. As they reached the two, their forms changed. The sludge quickly packed itself together, slipped away to take the form of massive balls that floated in the air, large mouths on their faces and stripes on their bodies. Two of them charged forward, slamming into Lapis and Jasper, knocking them away and blocking their escape route.

The monsters circled them from every angle. Four of them all around the two. Bouncing in the air, watching them with eyeless bodies, grinning with those massive mouths.

Jasper let out a cry of pain and fell to a knee as one rammed itself into her, quickly backing away to take back it's spot in the circle before anyone could do anything. Lapis could see blood start trickling down her arm. There was a chorus of laughter from the creatures, as though they were enjoying it. Disconnected laughter.

Lapis' heart was in her throat. Fear washing over her. It was as she faced these monsters that she realized that this could very well be her end. She felt instant regret. She regretted everything she had done, regretted all the choices she had made that led her to here.

She shouldn't have gone into the mirror.

She shouldn't have kept exploring.

She shouldn't have gotten herself involved.

One of the monsters hit Lapis from behind. It hurt, her spine trembled as she fell to her knees.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_! She was going to die here, wasn't she? Die here in this bizarre world and no one would know, they'd think she'd run away or something, unaware that she was dead. Got herself killed by her own stupid curiosity and determination. God damn it, why her?

She never should have come here. She should have stayed home and just let things be. She should have shattered the mirror when Kevin appeared on it, not pursue the whole mystery and involve herself like she had.

If she hadn't done anything, she wouldn't be here, she wouldn't be about to die. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die. Not here. Not now.

 _"If you don't want to die, then stop cowering in fear and fight back!"_

As the voice echoed in her mind, pain tore through her head. Lapis bit back a cry as her hands came up to grasp her scalp, fingers digging deep as she doubled over. It hurt. A throbbing pain like she'd taken a bat to the face. Pulsing, agonizing. She grit her teeth, whimpering and whining as the pain began to course over her entire body.

 _"Life is not a given right. If you want to survive and keep living, you have to fight to earn it."_

The more it spoke, the more pain, the more it drove daggers into Lapis. The pain was unbearable; she could barely keep standing. It was like her skull was trying to creak, as though something was trying to break through her from her head, like Athena's birth from Zeus. It hurt more than anything Lapis had ever felt, it was more than words could describe. Her senses blocked everything around her. She couldn't hear Jasper calling out to her, couldn't hear the monsters that surrounded them.

All that Lapis could hear was the pain she suffered and a deep laughter from inside her own mind.

She felt something warm in her hand and the pain slowly numbed. Though her vision was blurred through tears, she was able to make out a blue stone that she held, warm and pulsing, it was shaped like a teardrop. Her respite lasted only a few seconds before she was hit with another wave of agony, her knees buckled under her, it took all she had not to fall to the ground.

 _"If you wish to live, then open your eyes to your own anger and use my power. Crash over them like the stormy sea, drown them in the rain and thunder and reap your reward of life. I am thou, and thou are I! Let our wrath be released and send all who challenge us back to Hell itself!"_

The words were in her mind, the name, the answer to it all. Gripping the blue teardrop stone, Lapis hardened her stare and steeled her nerves. She felt a voice that wasn't her own speak, "Slaughter them, _Aigaion_!"

What happened next was fire.

The stone vanished from Lapis hand and a burst of blue fire appeared in front of Lapis, between herself and the monsters. It towered high, so close that Lapis could touch it. But, there was no heat. In fact, if anything the fire felt cold. Her heart raced, but, she felt… a sort of resolve at seeing it.

Out of the fire came a monster, clad in armor and chains, it's armor had arms and hands carved into it, dozens and dozens of hands all over it. Something about it screamed violent, screamed pure _destructive_. It let out a bloodcurdling scream and Lapis found her head throbbing again. She grasped it with both hands as the beast, as Aigaion, charged towards the smaller monsters.

It threw a chain, wrapped around one of the creature's necks and with one hard _tug_ —the head came right off. It threw it's sea-weed and algae coated chains all around, whipping and lashing at the ones surrounding Lapis and Jasper. Blood spewed from wounds, coating the dancefloor. Lapis, though in pain, could only stare at it.

Even as it was clear that Aigaion was the victor, it kept pummeling the defeated monsters until their bodies had completely disintegrated. Lapis could _feel_ the blood lust. Was it the monsters, or was it her own? She couldn't tell, didn't know.

All she knew was that it was terrifying.

Standing up straight, Aigaion watched them and Lapis was once more afraid. Afraid that it might attack them. She couldn't move as it stared at them. But, that's all it did, stare. But, then it did something else. It spoke.

 _"Call to me again when you find need of my power. Call on me when you have need to let loose the storm within you and decimate those who cross your path_ ," was its farewell as it faded away in front of Lapis. The stone returned to her hand.

She stared at the spot that Aigaion had stood, and then her head went dizzy. She crumpled to the ground only for Jasper to catch her and hold her against her larger body.

She could feel Jasper breathing heavily, her heart racing in her chest. Some of the blood from Jasper smeared off onto Lapis, but she was too tired to care, "Just what was that?" Jasper asked.

Lapis couldn't speak, it was hard enough to keep her eyes open. She was tired, she was weak. She wanted to sleep for a year. "Let's… let's get out of here," she managed. Her entire body hurt, hurt like she'd been run over by a steamroller.

Her friend shook her head, "Yeah, I wish I knew how," she said and lifted Lapis up into her arms, "Let's get you out of here. Before more of those things showed up." Lapis nodded and rested her head against Jasper, ready to doze off, exhaustion rooted deep in her.

But, life had a way of saying fuck you. Nothing ever went as they wanted it to.

That is to say, they barely got out the door before two more creatures appeared. Black ooze that manifested itself into floating balls with mouths, just like the previous four.

Lapis wasn't sure she had it in her to be able to call forth Aigaion again, to handle the pain again.

Jasper slid Lapis to the ground, letting Lapis cling to the wall for support as her large friend positioned herself between Lapis and the monsters. Lapis weakly called her name out but Jasper let out a small laugh, "I let you deal with the last group, now it's my turn to deal with this one," but, Lapis hadn't dealt with the last group. She still had no idea what happened. But, Jasper turned to the monsters and set her jaw, "Come on, try and fight me," Jasper barked, challenging the beasts as she cracked her knuckles.

She had to know that she couldn't win. There was no way that Jasper could beat those two things with her bare hands. But she stood there, ready to fight.

Crackling laughter filled the hall and the two floating monsters dove right for Jasper. Tongues out and dripping with drool, they dove in for the kill. Lapis clenched her eyes shut, unable to watch the murder she was about to witness.

"Maahes!" a voice shouted.

Lapis' eyes snapped open and in a blink of an eye, the monsters were gone, destroyed.

Lapis, body tense and locked, slowly turned around, lowering her arms from their defensive stance over her face, but still ready to protect or attack if needed to be. She was filled with confusion and fear as she stared across the room. At the young curly haired boy who stood there. But even more importantly, her eyes fell to the figure floating behind him.

She couldn't help the scream that tore through her throat, couldn't help but to stumble as she backed away, tripping over her own feet and falling to the ground as she stared up at the beast. A monster massive in size, a body of a man, but the head of a lion. Clad in shining gold armor like that of a knights, it's face was scared up as it stared at them. But, a few seconds passed and it just… vanished. Faded away right in front of them. Just like the one that had appeared when Lapis and Jasper had first encountered the monsters. Yet this one… it was less destructive.

"Hey, are you okay?" the boy asked as he sprinted over to them. She was small, a little chubby. If Lapis had to guess, he was maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. His eyes were full of worry at the two teenagers.

Jasper shook her head as she helped Lapis up. Lifting her back up. "Forget about us. Just, what were those things? What's going on?" she demanded, though her voice shook to show that she too was scared.

The boy pursed his lips and then looked around them. "I'll explain everything, just not here. The Shadows will be back soon. We need to get out of here," he said and looked back to them, "Follow me, I'll get you guys back to the real world and I'll explain everything there, okay?"

If this boy was offering a way to get back out of this mirror, Lapis wasn't going to argue with him.

* * *

 **Authors Note**

As always, I really do look forward to hearing what you guys thought of these chapters. Good or bad, let me know what you think!


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